Learning how to play a stringed instrument can be very challenging, musical compositions are often comprised of a complex series of hand, arm and finger movements. The person playing a stringed instrument needs to be in control of both hands/fingers; one hand and its fingers is used to shape the tone(s), note(s) or chord(s) by pressing down the string(s) against the fret(s) of a fretboard (also referred to as a fingerboard) and the other hand is used to make the strings vibrate via plucking, strumming or bowing. Timing and a firm and correct positioning of the hand and fingers shaping the tone(s)/note(s)/chord(s) using the string vs. fret interaction is needed to allow for pure tones to be generated.
More and more instructional videos on how to play a stringed instrument and certain musical compositions are also available on the internet; one drawback with these instructional videos is that it sometimes is very hard to distinguish between which strings are being used/pressed down when the musical composition is being played.
Also, musicians performing on stage or in a music video often seek to use lighting effects associated with their style of music and their style of play to further enhance the visual experience for an audience.
Musical instruments not having frets, like a violin or a cello, are very difficult instruments to learn and one major reason is that these instruments are lacking an indication on where to place the fingers while playing to achieve the right tone or pitch.
Various solutions to facilitate the learning process and make it easier to master stringed instruments have been suggested in the art. Examples of such solutions are US 2007/0113720 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,981 but these are complex solutions that can be both difficult to manufacture and expensive to employ. At the same time these and other solutions can have a negative effect on the tactile feel of the instrument.
Therefore, there is room for improvement and to provide a stringed instrument with a non-expensive and intuitive way of adding instructional functionality and visual effects without impairing the feel and function of said instrument.